For the record: Oct. 22, 2021.
Tied up in knots about so many excellent new recordings out today… and advance word about a few more on the way.
For the Record is a weekly round-up of new and upcoming recordings of interest to the new-music community – contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined – on CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital-only formats… you name it.
This list of release dates is culled from press releases, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other internet stores and sources, social-media posts, and online resources such as Discogs. Dates cited typically correspond to initial U.S. release, and are subject to change. (Links to Amazon, used when all else fails, do not imply endorsement.)
After publication, new listings are incorporated into For the Record: The Master List, a continuously updated resource exclusively accessible to paying Night After Night subscribers, found here.
These listings are not comprehensive—nor could they be! To submit a forthcoming recording for consideration, email information to nightafternight@icloud.com.
Please note that all opinions expressed herein are solely my own, and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.
Prelude.
Okay, I'll admit it… I'm all tied up in knots today.
Which is not the same as saying I give up! But candidly, I'm forced to admit that I'm not going to get around to reviewing a new album today, given a grueling breaking-news day at the temp job. But even if that weren't the case, this week's bounty of new recordings makes it daunting to choose just one.
For instance, I had the immense pleasure of seeing the new production of the Robert Ashley chamber opera eL/Aficionado at Roulette last night, an encounter so powerful that obviously I recommend the new cast recording, made in advance after last year's live dates were postponed. (You've got one more chance to see this production if you're not there right this minute, tomorrow—and if you need more urging, you won't find anything more delightful than the report filed by Anna Heflin for the consistently fresh Which Sinfonia.)
But I've also been listening to Kermès, a new recital album by pianist Julia Den Boer, with great admiration for several weeks now. Same goes for the self-titled Tzadik debut by John Zorn's exhilarating New Masada Quartet, and for Lull, an ambitious concerto grosso from the questing composer and violinist Jessica Pavone. North of Niagara, recorded by Mychael Danna and Tim Clément for Hearts of Space (and newly reissued by Clément's son, Joda Clément), is meditative and beautiful, and likely poised for a stronger reception now than it might have seen in 1995. And The Last Wave, by Nigerian artist Ibukun Sunday, is a refreshingly different take on ambient music.
That's to say nothing of the releases that tumbled into my inbox without warning today, like Tyshawn/King, a deliciously grooving encounter between Tyshawn Sorey and King Britt, and Reliable Sources, an elegantly quirky piece by Nico Muhly for solo bassoon with chamber orchestra, inspired by Orlando Gibbons because of course it is. I've barely scratched the surface of Nemeton, an instantly impressive collection from Matthias Pintscher. And I've yet to dig into new releases from Liz Allbee and Alex Zethson Ensemble on Relative Pitch, a label whose recent winning streak of strong new projects compels paying attention.
In a week like this, choosing to celebrate a single album feels wrong, somehow. Instead, I'll point out that links to everything I just mentioned can be found below… take advantage, and bend an ear.
New this week.
Liz Allbee - Rille (Relative Pitch)
Ellen Arkbro - Sounds while waiting (self-released)
Robert Ashley - eL/Aficionado - Kayleigh Butcher, Brian McCorkle, Bonnie Lander, Paul Pinto, Tom Hamilton (Lovely Music)
Roy Campbell, John Dikeman, Raoul van der Weide, Peter Jacquemyn, Klaus Kugel - When the Time Is Right (577 Records)
Mychael Danna/Tim Clément - North of Niagara (self-released; originally released 1995 on Hearts of Space)
Julia Den Boer - Kermès - compositions by Giulia Lorusso, Linda Catlin Smith, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Rebecca Saunders (New Focus)
Kazemde George - I insist (Greenleaf Music)
Sofia Gubaidulina - Dialog: Ich und Du; The Wrath of God; The Light of the End - Vadim Repin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Andris Nelsons (Deutsche Grammophon)
Pauline Kim Harris - Wild at Heart - compositions by Yoon-Ji Lee, Elizabeth Hoffman, Annie Gosfield, and John King (Sono Luminus)
Joe McPhee - Route 84 Quarantine Blues (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Okkyung Lee - Na-Reul (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Nico Muhly - Reliable Sources - Michael Harley, University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble/Scott Weiss (Cantaloupe Music)
Jessica Pavone - Lull (Chaikin)
Matthias Pintscher - Nemeton - Ensemble Intercontemporain (Alpha)
Tyshawn Sorey & King Britt - Tyshawn/King (The Buddy System)
Spannocchi Siewert Schwarz Jardim - ease & ooze (Chant)
Ibukun Sunday - The Last Wave (Spirituals)
Ken Vandermark - The Field Within a Line (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Moreno Veloso - Every Single Night (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Alex Zethson Ensemble - Some of Them Were Never Unprepared (Relative Pitch)
John Zorn - New Masada Quartet (Tzadik)
Just announced.
October 31
Modern Lamps/Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Cutlass Obscura/Extrasolarity (Hooker Vision)
November 4
A Space for Sound (Rena Anakwe) - Sometimes underwater (feels like home) (RNVG Intl.)
November 12
Cecilia Lopez/Joe Moffett - Caprichos (Tripticks Tapes)
November 15
Bernhard Lang - Cheap Opera #1 ("Répétitions); DW30 "Loops for Klaus Schulze" - Lang/Berweck/Lorenz (God)
November 19
Duane Pitre - Omniscient Voices (Important)
December 3
James McVinnie - Counterpoint - compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and Philip Glass (Bedroom Community)
Sara Serpa with Emmanuel Iduma - Intimate Strangers (Biophilia)